Review: Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross

Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's
life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as
the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri
(too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange
world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which
involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals'
super-hot rookie pitcher.

But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody
is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill
them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and
his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school
“brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on
her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she
should be doing is falling in love.

But baseball isn't just a game.
It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…

My Review

Baseball and Missouri go together like peanut butter and
jelly. You just can’t have one without the other. Unfortunately, Annie Lucas
kind of finds this out the hard way. She wanted to move away from her problems
and head to Kansas City, Missouri, but will it all be worth it once she gets
there? Maybe if she can hang out with Jason Brody, the hot new rookie pitcher,
it will be.

One on first: I just have to start with the setting of this
book. It. Was. Perfect. I love how Cross managed to make fun of Missouri in all
of the ways Missourians make fun of Missouri. Yes, the weather is seriously
bipolar, even now, when it’s close to being summer, there’s more showers in May
than there were in April, and one morning it’s sunny and cheerful and that
night it’s cold and misting. There is no consistency and Annie managed to
capture that Missouri newcomer attitude beautifully. And then there was the “Kansas
City is not in Kansas?” issue. All non-Missourians make this mistake, and it
never fails to make me laugh. But now, I’ll get to my actual review and stop
babbling about Missouri because I’m sure nobody wants to hear about it.

One on second: Annie Lucas is a fun character. She’s not
one-dimensional. She’s got dreams and goals and she knows who she does—and doesn’t—want
in her life. Her character was as relatable as they come. Even her family
drama, while probably not 100% similar, can relate to a lot of readers’
problems with certain members of their own families. You love them, but
sometimes you just have to stop. And I’m glad Annie was strong enough to
realize this. Now Jason Brody on the other hand is a character that doesn’t
really have anything on his mind but baseball. We’re given his backstory a
little bit (not enough), but I wanted sooooo much more. He’s a character that
could have made me really see baseball players in a new light—you know, less
typical overpaid jock, more human being—and while I still really enjoyed his
character, he could have been fantastically awesome instead of just amazing.
But, Annie and Brody are cute together. They’ll make you smile and have you
wishing for a baseball player of your very own.

One on third: The plot of the book follows the timeline of
the season. I really enjoyed this aspect. (I also liked how the book was
designed to reflect this). Now, while I may know some about baseball, I know nothing
in comparison to other members of my family and some of my friends. When
someone says postseason, I’m like, “When’s that?” So the story arc following
this timeline was a very well-thought out decision. And of course there’s not a
whole lot more to tell, because like all cute contemporary stories, there’s a
romance formula that must be followed. I just think the baseball aspect of Whatever Life Throws at You really amped
up the plot to a level beyond the cute contemporary.

One out: One aspect of the book that I was very hesitant
about was the paparazzi element. Missouri isn’t Hollywood. And while I’m not
absolutely certain this is true, I know that I have never heard of it—the “it”
being newspapers and tabloids dishing about players’ and their kids’ lives. Baseball
fans don’t really give a rip about players’ families. And especially coaches’
families. Sure there might be a short article about it, but there wouldn’t be a
whole article about a coach’s underage daughter going to a club. If anything
like this did happen, it would probably be more likely to happen with the
Cardinals anyway, not the Royals.

And it’s a home run: All in all, Whatever Life Throws at You is worth the read. It’s fun, it’s
entertaining, it’s more than just a fluffy love story, and it’s bound to knock
you out of the park.

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